Military

Further Reading

The Conseil national pour la défense de la democratie (CNDD)/Forces pour la défense de la democratie (FDD) is the main Hutu rebel group in Burundi, now split into two factions between the CNDD of Leonard Nyangoma and the CNDD/FDD of Jean-Bosco Ndayikengurukiye. When Kabila came to power, FDD lost most of its rear bases in eastern DRC and the rebels moved en masse to western Tanzania where many of them operate from in and around the refugee camps. However, since the 1998 war, the FDD have again found rear bases in eastern Congo in return for helping Kabila's troops against the RCD.

Affiliation to the rebel groups goes beyond ethnicity and tends to be founded on family and geography. CNDD was established in 1994 following the assassination of Hutu president Melchior Ndadaye the previous year, and its political wing is largely made up of Hutu intellectuals from the southern Bururi area. However, many of its fighters come from other parts of the country which led to the split within the group.